Thai basil chicken

I’m an avid fan of trying new foods, hoping to experience tastes that absolutely wow me. Thai basil chicken is one of those dishes that I really had no clue what it would taste like. I’ve eaten Thai food once in my lifetime and that was a few years ago. I love the exotic flavors that Thai food offers and as well as the mystery and excitement that goes along with trying new foods.

There’s one underlying question I had that led me to this recipe:

How do I use up a surplus of summer basil?

Pesto was the obvious choice, but I wanted something different. Freezing basil in ice cubes was another idea that sounded tempting. Then I came across Thai basil chicken.

Interesting, I thought.

I researched many many recipes in an attempt to understand the dish. There seems to be so many variations and no general conclusions on to what makes the best Thai basil chicken. In a sense, I ended up making probably the simplest version.

The first attempt at making this was an absolute disaster. I mean non edible salty like the ocean kind of disaster. It was horrible and Amber and I were left with a hungry void that wouldn’t be satisfied at least by my first version of Thai basil chicken.

My second version, however, was a winner! I went back to basics and dressed down my original recipe. I completely omitted soy sauce (a move the some people might find odd) and used significantly less fish sauce. The result was a modest unsalty meal that actually made great use of my leftover basil. The first disaster was why I wasn’t able to publish my usual Sunday post, but its ok, you’ll forgive me right?

Note: A tiny bit of soy sauce might be ok in this recipe, but use very very sparingly and taste before adding any more. I wouldn’t want anyone to have the salty disaster that I did. 🙂